Spinning toy



y 2, 1967 J. w. DIXON 3,316,672

SPINNING TOY Filed March 23, 1965 INVENTOR John (Dixon BY ATTK United States Patent 3,316,672 SPINNING TOY John W. Dixon, 224 Ireland Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45218 Filed Mar. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 441,997 3 Claims. (Cl. 46-66) This invention relates to improvements in spinning toys and is particularly directed to a self-righting means that Will enable a child to secure a proper and full rotating action for the toy regardless of the unskilled manner in which the toy is manipulated to institute said action.

Another object of the invention is to ning toy with a very low, or in the alternative, a very high centrifugal center to secure a variety of spinning actions for the toy; the low centrifugal center being also associated with the self-righting means.

More specifically the invention comprehends a hollow, egg-shaped body made of transparent, light weight material, such as a suitable plastic, which has a number of downturned arms of equal length radiating at equal angles from the central part of the body; each arm carrying a downwardly opening socket at its end in which a weighted ball has limited but free vertical movement therein.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the ensuing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of my spinning toy.

FIG. 2 is a section taken on line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmental section taken centrally through one of the self-righting means for the spining toy illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing.

Referring to the drawings by reference numerals my spinning toy consists of a hollow, generally egg-shaped body 7 preferably made in three sections, 8, 9 and 10, and each section composed of a suitable transparent plastic material. The body end sections 8 and 10 are identical in configuration and each has a relatively thin hemispherical wall 11 and 12, respectively, that terminates in an out-turned annular flange 13 and 14, respectively. The central body section 9 comprises a ring-shaped member 15 made of transparent plastic material somewhat thicker than the end sections 8 and 10; the flanges 13 and 14 of said end sections being cemented to the upper and lower edges, respectively, of the ring-shaped member to form a rugged, yet light Weight and transparent body for my spinning toy.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing, the central body section 9 has a plurality of arms 16 of equal lengths radiating outwardly and downwardly there from, said arms being preferably made from tubular, clear plastic stock and each secured centrally to the outer surface of the ring-like member 15 by a suitable plastic cement. It is thought that three arms angularly spaced apart one hundred and twenty degrees (120) on the central body section 9 will provide the best action for the toy but the number of arms may be increased provided only that said arms are equi-angularly spaced apart on the body.

A downwardly opening socket member 17 is carried at the terminal end of each arm 16 and, as best shown in FIG. 3, consists of a ball-like thin walled case 18 made of an opaque, plastic material and having a flat portion 19 formed on its upper end which serves to provide a land to which is secured the end of each arm 16 by means of a suitable plastic cement. Each case 18 is adapted to provide a spinreceive and loosely hold a weighted ball 20, said casing member having a downwardly opening aperture 21 therein of a diameter somewhat less than the diameter of the weighted ball and of such extent as to permit the ball to project downwardly from the casing and still allow a small amount of free vertical movement for the ball in the socket. These balls all have the same mass and are preferably made of a heavy metal to secure relatively great centripetal force when the toy is spun. If desired, a coiled and attractively colored double-ended spiral member 22 may be contained within the toy body 7 to give attractive visual effects when the toy is spun.

It will be seen from FIG. 2 of the drawing that the arms 16 are of a restricted length to maintain the weighted balls in the socket members 17 above the spinning surface 23 when the body 7 is in upright, vertical spnning position and resting upon the central portion of the bottom. section 10. When a child, in an unskilled manner, endeavors to impart spinning action to the toy, it will be grasped by the upper section 8 and given a twisting action and generally the toy will not be in a perfectly vertical, upright position as it begins its spin-ning action and the weighted balls 20 will severally contact the spinning surface, each in turn being momentarily free in the socket by contact with the floor, to thus impart a self-righting force to the toy which eventually results in the toy spinning in an upright position. During the self-righting action the balls give an audible, thumping noise attractive to children without materially lessening the speed of rotation of the toy. Also the arms and their weighted balls serve to maintain the toy in an upright position when the toy comes to rest.

An alternative spinning action is attained for the toy shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 by turning it upside down on the spinning surface with the arms extending outwardly and upwardly from the surface. In this position the toy may be spun over a large area because it may, during the spinning action, have its axis tilted at a great angle with respect to the spinning surface. As the toy comes to rest it will fall over and due to the divergence of the arms 16, said toy will turn completely over and come to rest in the position shown in FIG. 2.

The toy and its spinning action is susceptible of use for the instruction of children in the presence of atoms in the nothingness of outer space. The toy body and its arms are somewhat invisible during spinning action due to the transparency of the walls and arms and in spinning around simulates the movement of an atom as it moves through outer space. The socket members are opaque and therefore attractive to the eye and these sockets rotating around the body simulate electrons which circle the atom in its travel through space.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is:

1. A manually operated spinning toy comprising a generally egg-shaped, thin walled body composed of a transparent plastic material, a plurality of outwardly and downwardly extending arms attached to and radiating from the central portion of the body, said arms being equi-angularly spaced apart around the body, a downwardly opening socket member carried on the outer end of each arm, and a weighted ball held in each socket member for limited upward movement therein and having its lower end projecting beyond the open socket memher, said arms having equal lengths of an extent to maintain all the weighted balls above the spinning surface of the toy body when said body has its axis normal to the said surface.

2. In a manually operated spinning toy as set forth in claim 1 wherein the body comprises upper and lower hemispherical sections and a center, ring-like section having its upper and lower ends secured to the confronting rims of the upper and lower sections, respectively.

3. In a manually operated spinning toy as set forth in claim 2 wherein an eye-attractive, spirally coiled device is contained Within the toy body.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 547,764 10/1895 Boyum 46-65 5 RICHARD c. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A MANUALLY OPERATED SPINNING TOY COMPRISING A GENERALLY EGG-SHAPED, THIN WALLED BODY COMPOSED OF A TRANSPARENT PLASTIC MATERIAL, A PLURALITY OF OUTWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING ARMS ATTACHED TO AND RADIATING FROM THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE BODY, SAID ARMS BEING EQUI-ANGULARLY SPACED APART AROUND THE BODY, A DOWNWARDLY OPENING SOCKET MEMBER CARRIED ON THE OUTER END OF EACH ARM, AND A WEIGHTED BALL HELD IN EACH SOCKET MEMBER FOR LIMITED UPWARD MOVEMENT THEREIN AND HAVING ITS LOWER END PROJECTING BEYOND THE OPEN SOCKET MEMBER, SAID ARMS HAVING EQUAL LENGTHS OF AN EXTENT TO MAINTAIN ALL THE WEIGHTED BALLS ABOVE THE SPINNING SURFACE OF THE TOY BODY WHEN SAID BODY HAS ITS AXIS NORMAL TO THE SAID SURFACE. 